OWENSBORO, Ky. (4/10/13) – Independence Bank awarded a record amount of $75,500 to area high school seniors within our service area at a scholarship reception held Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Nine students were chosen as finalists and awarded the Maurice E. Reisz $500 Scholarship. The nine chosen were also competing for the Charles A. Reid $10,000 Scholarship, the Ernie & Martine Davis $3,000 Scholarship and six Ernie & Martine Davis $500 Scholarships. Out of the $75,500 that was awarded, $22,500 of that included eight Independence Bank community board scholarships.

The finalists included: Marisa Derenzo – Owensboro High School Amanda Roby – Whitesville Trinity High School Cameron Gibson – Henderson County High School Lauren Kessler – Greenwood High School Yasmani Ochoa – Hancock County High School Jayln Walls – Dawson Springs High School Sydney Rice – McLean County High School Brennan Pritchett – Webster County High School Victoria Potter – Paducah Tilghman High School

There was a tie for the Charles A. Reid $10,000 Scholarship, so Amanda Roby from Whitesville Trinity and Marisa Derenzo from Owensboro High School each received a $5,000 scholarship. The Ernie & Martine Davis $3,000 Scholarship winner was Jayln Walls from Dawson Springs High School. The recipients of the six Ernie & Martine Davis $500 Scholarships were: Cameron Gibson, Lauren Kessler, Yasmani Ochoa, Sydney Rice, Brennan Pritchett and Victoria Potter.

Also new this year was the $2,500 Revolutionary Scholarship, solely funded by the employees at Independence Bank was awarded to Matthew Johnston from Community Christian Academy in Paducah. This scholarship was also intended for a child or grandchild of an Independence Bank employee or director.

The Independence Bank Scholarship Program is designed to encourage high school seniors in the Bank’s eight county service areas of Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, Hopkins, McLean, McCracken, Warren and Webster counties, to continue their education. Applicants were judged based on high school grades, ACT/SAT scores, essays and personal interviews. Since 2001, Independence Bank has awarded $400,800 in college scholarships to area high school seniors.

Independence Bank is a regional community bank with 18 locations in western Kentucky and total assets over $1.2 billion.